Catherine Called Birdy (2022)

Jack and I loved this movie about a playful, headstrong 14 year old girl in 13th century England, who resists her parents' efforts to marry her off. Yes, it's a young-adult story based on a young-adult novel, but that didn't bother us one bit.

Bella Ramsey stars as the clever Birdy, her dissolute father Andrew Scott, her warm but firm mother played by Billie Piper, and some supporting roles are filled by Joe Alwyn, Lesley Sharp, and Sophie Okonedo.

Lena Dunham directs from her script, adapted from Karen Cushman's 1994 novel, winner of Newbery Honor and Golden Kite Awards.

Carter Burwell's medieval-influenced score, featuring the wordless vocals of the ensemble Roomful of Teeth and singer Misty Miller, can be streamed on Apple Music and, no doubt, elsewhere. Here, too, is a list of songs.

Scott was last blogged for 1917, Alwyn for Harriet, Okonedo for Wild Rose, and Burwell for The Tragedy of Macbeth.

Now-19-year-old Ramsey played Judy Garland's daughter Lorna Luft in Judy, though I didn't write about her, and was in nine episodes of Game of Thrones, which I didn't watch, and has another series upcoming. Piper, a singer with several hit singles, starred in the series The Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007-11). Dunham was last blogged for her debut feature Tiny Furniture, but also, of course, created the series Girls (2012-17), wrote 62 episodes, and directed 19 of them. She released another feature this year, called Sharp Stick, and I hope to watch it soon.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are roosting with a comfortable 88% average, while its audiences are flying away at 59. As usual, we are not nesting with the flock.

We watched this Amazon original on Prime with our subscription on December 3.